About collecting diecast
In the beginning, diecast model cars were not produced as a collectible but as a toy. I guess the most famous of them are the Dinky toys. As they were not produced as a collectible the companies did not use high quality metal resulting in parts that fell off. Nothing can be done to prevent this.
Today, manufacturers use better quality metal, and these problems do not occur anymore.
However we still have to deal with other problems to keep our models in perfect condition. There are three things.
Dust. Most models are sold in a acrylic display case. This is very good to keep your model free from dust, however it doesn't display great and takes a lot of space. I just use a glass display cupboard but that doesn't keep my models free from dust. From time to time a clean them using a small brush. Once a year I wax them with special model car wax using a cotton wool pad.
Sunlight. This makes the color to fade. Best way to keep your models is in a dark room. If you buy models as an investment, you must certainly do this, but if you are proud of your collection and want to show it to your friends, just keep them out of direct sunlight.
Children. Do I have to explain this?
What about the boxes and display cases?
Well, I still have them all. If I ever move to another house, I can use them to move the diecast models without damaging them. And it is true that if you ever sell them with the boxes and acrylic dislay cases the value is increased with up to 30%. But I don't think that most of todays Mercedes-Benz diecast cars, or any other car will increase in value so much as the old Dinkys did. Simply because todays models are sold as a collectible and not as a toy, people who buy them display them and do not play with them, resulting in that there are many left in years to come. And, ofcourse, they were (are) produced in large quantities.
21072002
